Pocono Record: 875-pound "friendly" bear shot near Delaware Water Gap
Leroy Lewis spends some quality time near his home with the bear he named Bozo. This photo was
taken two or three years ago. The bear was killed Monday on the first day of archery season, by
which time it had grown to 875 pounds, the largest recorded bear in Pennsylvania.
Photo credit: poconorecord.com
Leroy Lewis stood in the doorway of his tiny mobile home in Bushkill on Monday evening and wept as a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer told him his beloved bear, Bozo, had been shot by a hunter. Seventeen years of memories filled Lewis' mind as he digested the news that Bozo was dead. In those years, Lewis watched this wild animal-turned-pet grow as he hand-fed it table scraps and store-bought pies and other sweets. When Bozo was shot by a hunter Monday, he weighed nearly 900 pounds. That made Bozo the largest black bear ever killed in Pennsylvania. A trophy for David Price, the hunter, the kill was a heartbreak for Lewis.
"I'm devastated. I'm just devastated," he said Friday. "I mean I feel like I lost a friend. He used to come knock on the door when he was hungry."
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